New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-11-06

delicious inconsequence, her unconquera Die med
dlcsomenes her feminine fondness for mild scandal
her matchmaking prOpensities, her peculiar ca
pacity for getting INTO scrapes are each anu all
illustrated with a naturalness. subdued humor
a genial play OF gentle satire, which belong 10 the
best creative art 1t is a high tribute 10 DE-
Sundes analytic skill that while this German
mother-in-law and grandmother Is perpetuaiiy
embroi1ng herself and Others by her rash proceed
Jugs and her futile attempts TODD things IN secret,
and while her temper is so uncertain that her nus
band and children often find it difficult to get
along wi n her. she il in no way dIsa greeabc. In
fact, the real warmheartedncss which underllcs all
her fusness and seif-aSsertiOn Is attractive that
the reader is drawn to her. and in the few tender
ard pa hetc scenes Of her bourgeois career she as
s,I,nes sirnpe dignity which owes morning 10
self-con sciousncss is affoctation.
In the present volume some phases OF middle
class hfe are presented which Will be quite new 10
the average American reader. One OF them Is inc
pract ce of engaging " lady helps ; Young women
often of good family, who are apprentIced to some
notable hOusekccper 10 acquire that domestic
science which viii fit them Tor the proper discharge
of wifely duties as understood IN Germany. Frau
WllhenIne saddles herself with two OF these raw
recruits, and her consequent troubles are most
a,nuslngly de> crlbcd. BY this time all know the
whole family and their friends and connections
Uncle Fritz the doctor. Max and Franz. Carl
EnInir and BETH and Erica. Herr klcnes, the
KrauseS the Berghodts, and others, are become real
persona ges each with his or her thoroughly under
stood character and idiosyncrasles. Together they
constitute undOubtcdly-for German public opinion
ailirms it--l test sample of mid0leclass Ieutonlc
lie: aud after making full allowance Tor
foibles and defects ii must he admitted that
il is very good honest, sterling and morally whole
toI (i.artn mi IL
PhilIstine ard the whole rather empty. Ma
terlal and perhaps rather gross Pcrvaded by the
aroma of cookery and moiStoned by abundant
floods of beer. That. however, is the social con-
dltion Dr. Sim lie undertook TO photograph, and all
acknowledge the fidelity of the portraiture. There
is malice but much candor III his pen-pictures,
and they testify in every line to his special fitness
for what Is really most difficult and delicate task.
To write series OF books about a particular class,
showing it as 1t Is without fear favor, and max
ing the study amusing and interesting to all with
ont hurting the feelings OF anybody in tho nat
ure of things so arduous an undertaking that its
successful accomplishment may very well he re
gardcd as n proof Of rea genius in the author
Every dabber ia fiction nowadays thinks him
self entitled to label MS novel "a study and aD.
parently thinks that i'll 50 doing he has given II
certain weight and scientific Importance. There is
should be called study any more than
symphony nOcturne. III tho term
is used to imply specially careful observation
then 1t must be said that the wri'cr has
looked through cOlored glasses or his own sight
is defective. for le lIfc-like story it would be
hard to find. II is prof Hctcd upon essentially
low plane. The tone throughout is depressing and
the atmosphere Is unwholesome. The agricu tural
life described is such as will vainly any
part of New-York State. If could i'm
agine some of the people in Letters
from He'll" talking in rural dialect. the
combination would give an approximately
correct notion of the impression produced by Mr..
Frederics Ncw-York farmers and farm hands.
Mental SQualor the dominant characteristic OF
most of these dreary and repulsivc creatures. aud
over the whole region occupied by them broods a
sky heavy. lowering and fail OF the spirit Of de-
spOndcncy. There Is not really pleasant charac-
ter in the book. There IS not ono possessing high
standard Of thought or action. The one man APP
rarenty in ended to be heroic is Bohemian who
goes in for Mugwump politics In the account OF
the political condition of Jay County aud of rho
convention II Tyre evidence appears Of faml
lariiy with the my sido of politics. though even
here there is exaggeration The Fairchild family
Is peculiarly unlovcly and unoyable nor does
Seth who is the best of the lot shine ford
with efulgence. Seths brothers wife hersclf can
hardly be called n study. She i rather m outline
drawing. aud not correct at that. In fact she is
two distinct n. for whereas up TO the murder
OF her husband she ia represented a rather weak
VAIN young woman with an appetite for niration
on sudden she is transformed into a constructive
murdeross Of the Lady Macbeth type and plumges
from drawing room comedy into high tragedy
without the least explanation. This change con-
stitu,es n break of continuity in her Identity II
IS no longer the same woman. But she does not
maintain her bad cmnence after she has climbed
to 1t. Having proclaimed herself n thoroughly bad
woman, she again fOrgets her character and SINKS
back into the frivolous pretty widow.
here is a picture of provincial journalism in the
book which hears the same relation to facts a.
do the scenes of farming life. The trail Of the ser
pcnt is it all. Everybody is corrupt
or waiting to be corrupted. Everybody Is
egotlstica Almost everybody acts upon lov mo-
tives for base ends. And there IS great deal too
much dialect talk. 1t has the effect Of padding
One cannot but feel that if many pages Of this
KIND of "haOw" and "raOun and "abaout"
and :" naOw stuff were translated into English
1t would be Invested Of the tct'ious appearance
OF meaning some thing which II now presents. Tie
story Is not without certain forco and IL contains
some clever writing but 1t leaves bad taste IN the
had gone through 1t once feeling inclination TO
take IT up again.
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